Hi guys, I'm Tek. I guess most of you would just say why don't you go to a school and find out, well the truth is there are two new Gracie/Bjj schools in my town however, I'm just to intimidated to go in and ask questions. Absurd sure, but hey I bet i'm not the only one. WHich is why I'm a member of a place like fightingarts so I can learn through soe of yor posts.

So how about it, how much striking is involved before someone is grappled?

I know classical jj has any strkes going into an oppoenent before grappling techniques but Bjj seems to favor ground tecnques and while I'm a big fan of mix martial art competition they don't allow different strikes other than punching, elbows and palm heels.

School #1 Ralph Gracie academy headed by Ricardo Barros.School #2 is a New school it's labeled Kickboxing and BJJ on the window they have a big sign of Gracie Jujutsu. Not sure what the name of the school is and it isn't in any of the phone books yet. It's located in Antioch, Ca on E. 18th street. It's a pretty big school, fancy looking I assume they do mix martial arts, they have wrestling mats, a full size ring and tons of heavy bags, typical kick boxing school I suppose.

So what exactly is vale tudo? I got the impression that it was another form of competition in Brazil?

In many BJJ schools, people want to learn how to handle aggression with standing toe to toe with someone in a slugfest. The goal of the SD component is to counter and escape common, basic attacks both armed and unarmed. The goal of Sport BJJ is to provide an avenue to take the core skills to much higher level by isolating the ground grappling game. The goal of Vale Tudo is provide an avenue to develop and test those same skills under different circumstances (that allow striking) closer to that of a purely combative scenario.

It depends purely on what the primary goals of the school and the instructor are. Although many of my students started because they wanted to better learn how to defend themselves, they stuck around because they were enjoying the training and just wanted to get better at the art. Getting better is judged by their performance either against other athletes in competition or just against their training partners in-house.

I don't have any students who fight MMA currently and training time is limited so our striking training is minimal in our straight BJJ classes. Still, I do train LE and CO so we will from time to time work striking but try to keep in int the context of SD.

To say that BJJ has no strikes is not entirely accurate. It depends on what the instructor focuses on. Sport or competition BJJ will not have much striking, because it is not allowed in the rules.

Vale Tudo (Brazilian for "anything goes") is a MMA competition similar to the UFC, that has punches, elbows, knees, etc, as the competition rules allow.

SD-oriented BJJ will sometimes incorporate other strikes, including eye-gouges, throat shots, etc. The Gracie BJJ beginners DVD has a section showing them using a fair amount of strikes and throws.

Technically you're right, but can you provide an example of an instructor that includes striking in the non-VT classes, or for that matter that even teaches the SD portion of BJJ?

Regarding the teachers, Ralph Gracie is a complete [censored], his student might be decent, but I'd be wary of anyone who still associates themself with Ralph. Check both of them out and make the decision for yourself, but keep that in mind.